Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Agony and the Ecstasy and the Agony Again

Starting pitcher
M.C. O'Connor

Matt Cain had a shitty night and that was nearly the game story. The Padres did to Cain what the Giants should have done Mat Latos. The first six guys in the Padres lineup all had a hit and four of them had RBIs. San Diego actually has an offense. The Giants were damn-near doomed after the home run by Kyle Blanks in the second inning. Matty had not yielded a home run in his 12 previous starts.

Then, Orlando Cabrera. He had the hit of the night for the Giants, one of those Veteran Savvy Clutchness moments that just can't be explained. The OC is not amenable to rational analysis! Rookie Hector Sanchez got it going with his maiden knock and the Giants, improbably, tied a game up late and gave themselves a chance to win. Aaron "It Only Looks Like I'm Shitting" Rowand was in the lineup all evening and spread much futility, including inducing errors from the Padres (he was on deck when the Jesus Guzman gift-of-the-gods gaffe happened). How a club can contend with ABs from that guy is beyond me. Then again, Orlando Cabrera.

Giants are now 7-14 in August, having scored 62 runs (2.95 per game) and allowed 82 (3.90 per game). Their season averages entering tonight were 3.43 runs scored (last in NL) and 3.55 runs allowed (2nd in NL). Time to turn it around and start winning some games, especially at home against a last-place team.

Of note the padres first run was due to defensive sloppiness - Huff and Ross colliding. The second was due to an umpire error - Cain beat the runner to the bag by a bunch just prior to the homer. Perhaps they would have come back and tied rather than gone ahead in the ninth, I don't know. Tough loss. Meanwhile Bruce Jenkins is leading the "give up the ship" parade. It is a tough year, and tempting to do, but my god we are 2 back in a shitty division.

Of note the padres first run was due to defensive sloppiness - Huff and Ross colliding. The second was due to an umpire error - Cain beat the runner to the bag by a bunch just prior to the homer. Perhaps they would have come back and tied rather than gone ahead in the ninth, I don't know. Tough loss. Meanwhile Bruce Jenkins is leading the "give up the ship" parade. It is a tough year, and tempting to do, but my god we are 2 back in a shitty division.

No one else is excited about us maybe getting Heath Bell? Given our current injury situation, that could be a big pick-up. Because of all of those weird 2011-ish kinds of contractual & draft compensation reasons, we may be able to do this without giving up much in return.

According to this: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2011/08/24/pregame-notes-what-the-giants-claim-on-heath-bell-means-plus-updates-on-brian-wilson-and-sergio-romo-etc/#more-6452 we give up plenty.